Off to AC, but not really for R&R

Our teams losing early in the state tournament has one side benefit. I am able to go to Atlantic City today (Friday) for a luncheon where the Maxwell Club football award winners are being honored at Harrah's. Among the honorees are Jeannette's Terrelle Pryor, who probably won't be there, as well as Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, who probably won't be there, and Penn State's Dan Connor and Delaware coach K.C. Keeler from Emmaus, who, hopefully, will be there.

This is the big event in which Liberty's Dan Persa was honored last year, but last year, I went down for the luncheon, did some interviews and high-tailed it right back to Allentown in time for a basketball playoff game at night. No need to rush back tonight because Mandy Housenick will have the Allen girls game in Reading.

I won't be there, but I will be rooting for the Chicks and we will have coach Tom Gallagher and at least one of the Allen players on our Morning Call Sports Page TV show next week.

With all of the local boys basketball teams out, I can now go down, cover the luncheon, do a story and stay overnight. I'll probably mix in some time in the casino in between. It's not my favorite town, Vegas, but losing money is losing money.

As for my Arizona friend Roy Sekoch's question about ex-Dieruff star John Smurda, Roy, I believe he had a heart attack. All we know is that he died of natural causes. It's a shame, too, because not only was John still a relatively young man, but he was about to be inducted into the Lehigh Valley Football Hall of Fame in May. He was so excited and thrilled when Keith Newhard called to give him the news.

As for boys basketball, it's going to be an interesting off season around here. Depending on how the dominos fall, there could be at least five openings in the LVC and Colonial. We know of two already, of course, at Parkland and Salisbury. It's going to be interesting to see how everything shakes out. Tamaqua and Upper Perk also have openings by the way.

These are long, draining seasons. And it amazes me how much baloney some of these guys take. Even Ohlson and Rothrock, who did fantastic jobs this season, take some heat on some of these chatroom boards. It flabbergasts me how some people, and parents, are never satisfied. It's all about them and their kids, never about the good of the program.

If Rothrock does leave Liberty I can tell you that it won't be because of the critics.

He took the 2006 death of Derek Kehoe, the former Nazareth standout and a close friend of his son, very hard. It served as a reminder to him of what's important in life and coaching takes a huge chunk of your life away from your family and Todd doesn't want to do that. He wants to value the time he has with those closest to him and if he leaves, that will be the reason. And, he's also young enough that if he leaves and wants to come back, there will be opportunities for him, especially after the job he has done.

Again, I'm hoping he stays because he brought a lot of class to that program, but I can understand the decision if he goes.

Next week for me, it's all about the all-area team and the state finals.